Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on national television the selection of South Africa’s new cabinet. Although there was no surprise to see the names of such competent officials as Pravan Gordhan, Ephraim Patel, Naledi Pandor, Lindiwe Sisulu, and Tito Mboweni, Ramaphosa’s selection of Patricia de Lille as minister of public works and enterprises really “put the cat among the pigeons.”

On December 13, Ambassador John Bolton, President Donald J. Trump’s national security advisor, delivered the administration’s long-awaited encyclical on Africa before an overflow audience at the Heritage Foundation. In a typically blunt manner, Ambassador Bolton characterized China’s policies toward Africa as rapacious and neo-colonial, expressing concern that China would use its leverage over states heavily indebted to it in return for a monopolistic hold on the continent’s natural resource bounty.